1. A long litany of dramatic events

the process industry is particularly mindful of the chemical plant accidents at Seveso in 1976, Bhopal in 1984 and Toulouse in 2001, and the nuclear power plant accident at Chernobyl in 1986.

The transport industry has also faced major accidents, such as :

• the ground collision of two aircraft in Tenerife in 1977;

• the sinking of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker off the coast of Alaska in 1989, and the Jolla ferry in Senegal...